The next morning saw us visiting Pey la
Tour, one of Dourthe’s top properties, although it is only a lowly
Bordeaux Supérieur property in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. It’s
200 hectares, with mostly clay soils, planted at 6000 vines/hectare.
To get balance, a reasonably high canopy is used here because there’s
quite a bit of water in the soil.

Merlot predominates (vineyard split is
88% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit
Verdot), and yield is usually around 50–55 hl/ha, although in 2009
it was reduced to 46 hl/ha by hail. Pruning is taille Bordelaise
with two canes and no replacement spurs.

Back in 1990 there were just 30 hectares
here, so it has grown quite a bit. The property is rented on a
rolling 3 year contract. It’s seen as a model estate for the
Syndicat for Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur, appellations that are
really struggling in today’s marketplace. Dourthe’s vision is to
make a brand out of the Château. ‘It’s realistic in the
long-term to build a volume brand here that’s also an estate wine,’
says Patrick Jestin. ‘It took 10 years for us to really have the
level of quality that we expected,’ he adds.

We sampled some tanks:

2009 Merlot on clay, 25 year old vines:
ripe, vivid and intense with strong Merlot character

2009 Merlot, 40 year old vines. Sapid and
vivid with dark fruits and a big green character. Attractive.